REHOBOTH BEACH, Del. - When you walk through the front door of the Sea Shell Shop on Coastal Highway in Rehoboth Beach, you're greeted by trinkets on the half shell.
The shop has been using large clamshells for years to showcase much of the shore-themed merchandise at the store. But now many of these shells carry their own price tags.
The reason? The Sea Shell Shop currently has two locations: one on Coastal Highway, and another in downtown Rehoboth Beach. The shop is closing its downtown location and consolidating its operations at its Coastal Highway location.
When you hear how much those clamshells weigh, you can understand why the shop staff don't want the trouble of having to move them.
"One we moved weighed 880 pounds," said Sea Shell Shop owner Patty Derrick. "The one we still have in our store right down here weighs about 700 pounds. And so they're very heavy. They're very very heavy."
The clam shells come from giant clams, which are also known as "man-eating clams," an unfortunate moniker.
"When you put your foot down in side them when they're open, it looks like grass, and if you put your foot down and they slightly close, you can't get your foot out and so you drown," Derrick noted, explaining how the clams got their nickname.
The clams are native to the Philippines, and they can live to be more than 100 years old.
Man-eating clams don't actually eat people. In fact, people eat them, and so much so that the giant clams were put on the endangered species list about 20 years ago.
Because of that, new clamshells can't be purchased, making these shells all the more appealing.
"It brings a little bit of the past to the present, that's my opinion," said Vic Camarote, manager of the Sea Shell Shop. "That's something that was very deep in the ocean that they can actually touch and feel."
The shells are currently being sold for 50 percent off, and starting on Thursday, shells at the downtown location will be sold for 75 percent off until that store closes on February 5.
As of Wednesday, the shop is planning to sell 15 of the roughly two dozen shell the shop still has.
Anyone interested in purchasing a shell should be aware that they are heavier than they appear, and should bring plenty of help to move the shell. For safety reasons, staff at the Sea Shell Shop cannot help move the shells.